FACT SHEET
Inertial Confinement Fusion
at the
National Ignition Facility
September 2012
The United States faces significant challenges in how to meet its long-term electricity
generation demand. By 2050, our nation’s fleet of power plants will need to be replaced.
Replacing the electricity fleet presents a huge opportunity to shape our next-generation
energy mix; energy from fusion can play an important role in meeting demand for baseload
electricity.
Fusion is a method of generating power that forces two atoms together, releasing tremendous
amounts of energy.
“Inertial Confinement Fusion” is the method of starting fusion by heating and imploding a
fuel pellet; powerful lasers are the most widely used and effective method for this.
The lasers force the fuel pellet to actually implode and the atoms within it to “fuse” together.
This fusion reaction creates enormous amounts of energy.
A single “shot” lasts less than a billionth of a second and the reaction ends. There is no danger
of a run-away reaction.
We know that fusion works: it is happening every day in labs around the world.
The challenge with this type of fusion energy is the precise configuration required to initiate
the reaction is still being worked on.
The goal is to generate more energy than is put into the reaction. This goal is within reach:
the remaining barriers are related to engineering and cost challenges.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF), housed in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
in California, is the worlds leading facility for this type of fusion method - inertial confinement
fusion.
The NIF is a part of the National Ignition Campaign, a nationwide collaboration with some
of the nation’s leading scientific institutions that is attempting to demonstrate “ignition”. 1 Ignition is the point at which fusion releases more energy than it creates. This will be an
important scientific milestone that demonstrates the potential for fusion to be a viable energy
source.
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How does Inertial Confinement Fusion work?
Inertial confinement fusion uses very
powerful lasers to heat a tiny fuel
pellet and push its mass inward.
The fuel pellet used at the NIF is two
millimeters in diameter and is made
of a mixture of two types of hydrogen
(deuterium and tritium).
The lasers heat the pellet to more than
100 million degrees, hotter than the
surface of the sun.
At the same time, the lasers implode
the pellet at a velocity of nearly
700,000 miles per hour.
All of this happens within about 20
billionths of a second.2
The combination of extreme temperature and pressure force the atoms together, overcoming
nuclear forces that would otherwise naturally repel each other.
Following Einstein’s equation, E=MC2, the action of forcing the atoms together releases tremendous amounts of energy.
For example, burning just a tiny 12 mg fuel pellet could produce 4.2 gigajoules of energy,
equivalent to about the electricity consumption of one and a half U.S. households for an entire
month.3
Fusion is inherently safe; there is no chance of a Fukushima-style runaway chain reaction.
What is the National Ignition Facility?
Construction of the National Ignition Facility began in 1997 and was completed in 2009 at a
total cost of just $3.5 billion.
It currently employes 1,200 scientists, engineers, technicians and administrators .
The NIF consists of 192 lasers, each of which is the largest and most energetic in the world.
A “pulse” shot can last anywhere from 100 trillionths to 25 billionths of a second.4
2
Each of the NIF’s 192 lasers start as a small, low-energy laser
pulse. As it moves through its 1,500 meter path to the target
chamber, the laser’s energy is multiplied by a factor of more
than one quadrillion.
When the 192 beams hit the fuel pellet simultaneously, huge
amounts of energy (2 million joules) are applied to the target. 5
Precision is as important as power. The lasers must strike
within a range of 50 micrometers, comparable to the diameter
of a human hair.6
The NIF has three missions:
Stockpile Stewardship:
The NIF is the only facility that can simulate
the conditions at the heart of a nuclear explosion without having to test a weapon.
This allows the NIF to affirm the integrity of
America’s nuclear weapon arsenal.
Inertial Fusion Energy
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The NIF is the world’s leading research institution
on inertial confinement fusion.
Demonstrating that ignition with energy gain is
possible in a laboratory setting would allow plans
to move forward for a demonstration power plant.
Fusion energy promises a virtually limitless energy potential.
Understanding the Universe
The conditions within the NIF can be made to closely resemble conditions within supernovas and black holes
A closer understanding of these conditions could unlock the secrets of the fundamental
elements of the universe.
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Achievements
In March 2009, NIF delivered a 1.1 megajoule laser shot, the first time fusion lasers ever surpassed
one megajoule.7
Only three years later, in July 2012, NIF’s lasers delivered a laser shot that was almost 70% more
powerful, delivering a record-setting 1.85 megajoule of laser energy to the target. This is 100 times
more energy than any other lasers produce today.8
For an instant, NIF’s lasers deliver 500 terawatts of power; more than 1,000 times the amount of
electrical power being produced in the entire United States at one moment in time.9
In its status report on inertial confinement fusion, the National Academy of Sciences stated that it
is “impressed with the quality of the science and technology and how much progress has been made
in the past decade.”10
The NIF is currently producing record levels of fusion output, having progressed many orders of
magnitude in its first two years of operation.
Looking Forward
Critical scientific and engineering barriers remain before a full-scale demonstration plant can be constructed.11
Despite delays, scientists at NIF believe they are only a few steps away from achieving ignition with energy
gain – a fusion burn that produces more energy out than is put in.
Once complete, the NIF’s scientists calculate that the fuel will generate 10 to
100 times more energy than was required
to start the reaction.12
With a successful demonstration of ignition, a demonstration plant called Laser
Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) will move
forward. It is planned for construction
mid-2020’s and is estimated to cost $4
billion.13
The LIFE plant would prove that inertial
fusion could continuously produce
the energy that is needed for a fusion
power plant to be economically viable.14
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Conclusion
Inertial Confinement Fusion, as one of the two major approaches to fusion energy, holds great promise for
America’s energy future.
It is clean, safe, secure, and sustainable, with none of the drawbacks that characterize today’s energy sources.
The NIF is one of the world’s premier scientific institutions. This is a venue for extreme cutting-edge science: it
is achieving temperatures, pressures, and densities at a level higher than any ever controlled within a laboratory
before.
The NIF is one of the ‘crown jewels’ of American science, and the scientists working there deserve our applause
and support.
The NIF is making tremendous progress on fusion energy and we need to continue long-term support for
their important work.
Once the NIF achieves “ignition,” and proves the ability to produce net energy, America can move forward
with the LIFE project. This full-scale pilot plant will demonstrate the commercial viability of fusion energy.
Bibliography
Broad, W. (2009, May 25). In Hot Pursuit of Fusion (or Folly). The New York Times, p. D1.
Hand, E. (2012). Laser fusion nears crucial milestone. Nature, 133-134.
07-01.html
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Endnotes
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9.
07-01.html
10.
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11.
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13. Hand, E. (2012). Laser fusion nears crucial milestone. Nature, 133-134.
14. Hand, E. (2012). Laser fusion nears crucial milestone. Nature, 133-134.
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Building a New American Arsenal
The American Security Project (ASP) is a nonpartisan initiative to educate
the American public about the changing nature of national security in the
21st century.
Gone are the days when a nation’s strength could be measured by bombers
and battleships. Security in this new era requires a New American Arsenal
harnessing all of America’s strengths: the force of our diplomacy; the might of
our military; the vigor of our economy; and the power of our ideals.
We believe that America must lead other nations in the pursuit of our
common goals and shared security. We must confront international
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ASP brings together prominent American leaders, current and former
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We live in a time when the threats to our security are as complex and diverse
as terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, climate change,
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and partisan bickering won’t do. America needs an honest dialogue about
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ASP exists to promote that dialogue, to forge consensus, and to spur
constructive action so that America meets the challenges to its security while
seizing the opportunities the new century offers.
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